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OpenStage Theatre opens 2012-13 season with 'Wit'

Play kicks off year that will bring back audiences' favorite plays produced by the company

By Rhema Zlaten Special to the Reporter-Herald

Posted:
09/13/2012 09:47:46 PM MDT

Denise Burson Freestone will reprise the role Vivian Bearing in the OpenStage Theatre production of "Wit." (Special to the Reporter-Herald)

With candor and hope, OpenStage Theatre encourages the community to dialogue about cancer through their production of "Wit." This humorously poignant glimpse of how the human spirit tackles a dark prognosis placed in the top six plays produced by OpenStage over the past 40 years, voted on by over 1,500 patrons.

"Wit" kicks off the theater's 2012-13 season of audience member's all time favorites.

"Wit" traces the journey of Vivian Bearing, Ph.D, a professor who lives and breathes the metaphysical sonnets of John Donne. After a grim diagnosis of stage four ovarian cancer, she takes the audience on a deeply personal journey of reflection. "Wit" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play with recent Broadway re-makes.

Denise Burson Freestone co-founded OpenStage in 1973 with her husband Bruce Freestone. She has worn many hats over the years, including Producing Artistic Director, director, producer and much more. For "Wit," she steps into the shoes of Vivian Bearing for a heart-to-heart chat with the audience about deep life issues.

"It is her saga as she undergoes experimental chemo," Denise Freestone said. "It really is a peeling away of her. She is an uncompromising, demanding professor. Her work is her life. It is how she travels through from her diagnosis to the chemo and as she deals with her illness."

"She engages with the audience the whole time. It is a conscious communication with the audience. It has an amazing amount of humor. It is also very moving, and it is a very beautiful written piece of theater."

"It is very much a one-on-one conversation that lends itself to this open staging where we express different areas of a hospital or a classroom," Bruce Freestone said. "There is one stage that is her childhood living room, but they are minimal suggestions. The show is highly choreographed with four ensemble members who do a lion share of the moving. Vivian stays on stage the entire time addressing the audience. The whirlwind of movement behind her sets the scene. It is in this choreographic dance."

Both Denise and Bruce Freestone crafted Open Stage's first production of "Wit" 10 years ago. Denise Freestone relishes the opportunity to grow deeper roots with Vivian's character.

"It has been really wonderful to be able to visit this character," Denise Freestone said. "She is so rich and her journey is full of so much laughter. It is like peeling the onion. There are new depths to find in the material."

For audiences on the fence about experience a play with such serious subject matter, Denise invites audience's to experience the therapy of laughter paired with tough life discussions.

"People think they might not want to see this because it is pretty heavy material," Denise Freestone said. "There have been so many people in the audience who have battled cancer or they know someone who has, and they are really glad they have gone. Even if you haven't had relationship with cancer, the show really is affirming about life and not morose. It does contain some mature material so we recommend it for audiences 17 years and older."

Bruce Freestone knows people struggle with opening up about terminal illness, but Vivian's character encourages such conversations.

"They connect with her," he said. "It is easy to say, this is just like my experience was this with my brother, mother, father or whoever, because Vivian is so direct with sharing her experience with the audience. It is the kind of show that makes it easy for people to open up and share their story. It is not like you are demanding that they open up, but having experienced the play, they feel like they can, like they should and like they want to."

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